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Star Wars:Attack of the Clones is a seminal tale of the Star Wars mythos, unlocking some of the history and events that laid the foundation for the Rebel Alliance's epic struggle against the Empire as chronicled in the original Star Wars film trilogy. Featuring familiar characters as never seen before and introducing new players destined to become Star Wars icons, Episode II is a must-see film, and this graphic novel is a must-read for all Star Wars enthusiasts. Adapted by Henry Gilroy from the original screenplay by George Lucas and Jonathan Hales, and illustrated by Jan Duursema and Ray Kryssing. Make sure you catch this legendary series that's sure to please Star Wars fans of all ages.

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I've been reading this novel for the last week and am almost done with it. I actually didn't know when I bought it that it is an older novel and written in 1991 originally. The novel is a great read though and takes place shortly after the Battle of Yavin (Return of the Jedi). Luke continues to discover his force powers and Leia is attempting to begin her own training in the force while pregnant with Han Solo's kids. Grand Admiral Thrawn is the main Antagonist in the book and having never really read anything about him previously, without spoiling it, I can definitely tell why author Timothy Zahn has stated that he is a challenging character to write, but also his favorite. Its a great book! I highly recommend it.

I have been a fan of the Star Wars saga since the first move came out back in the 1970s. I did not begin reading the Star Wars books until about six months ago. I recently purchased this 404 page (Star Wars Heir to the empire volume 1 by Timothy Zahn) on Amazon for a bargain price and found it to be an exciting and fun read.

In this book it is five years after the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star and defeated Darth Vader. Princess Leia and Hans Solo are married and are expecting Jedi twins. Luke has become first in a long line of Jedi Knights.

Even though the Death Star was destroyed the dark side is actively organizing itself to again dominate the galaxy. I never like to give away too much information when reviewing a novel because it may spoil it for the reader; however, if you are a Star Wars fan this is a must read book.

Heir to the Empire was Timothy Zahn first Star Wars novel (though not his first work), and started the Expanded Universe off with a rollicking ride of a real Star Wars story. A story that, if it could have been filmed in the 90s, might have sent the Star Wars universe in a very different direction. The Thrawn trilogy in particular were masterworks, fitting in to the universe perfectly with both familiar faces and new ones to add to the story including several that became fan favorites over the next twenty years. And this was literally the book that started it all.

If you haven't read it before, or if you're coming back to an old favorite like I did - enjoy it. This is some of the best writing in Star Wars. In any format, by anyone.

After the original Star Wars films ended with the release of Return of the Jedi, the interest in the franchise waned, seeming to end with the cancellation of the Marvel run in 1986. There appeared to be no market anymore for stories set in the galaxy far, far away, but some at Lucasfilm disagreed, so they pitched an idea to their superiors for further Star Wars adventures. They argued that these new adventures should take the form of novels set in the time period after Return of the Jedi.

Once they received approval from George Lucas and the other higher-ups, they searched for a writer to pen this new trilogy, and decided to offer the contract for the trilogy to then-rising science-fiction writer Timothy Zahn. Thus, what would become known as The Thrawn Trilogy was born.

The first book, Heir to the Empire outsold the modest hopes that had been held out for the books, and much more. It was a run-away best-seller that proved that there was still a HUGE market for SW stories. Timothy Zahn went on to become, for many fans, the definitive author of the EU (Expanded Universe) of SW stories.

Twenty years after the initial release of Heir, Timothy Zahn released a special annotated version of the novel, with helpful notes, observations, and explanations from himself and (every once in a while) Betsy Mitchell, his editor at Random House.

Of course the story is terrific fun. It takes us five years after the end of Jedi, where the Rebel Alliance has made huge gains since their victory over the Emperor at the Battle of Endor. In those five years, the Rebellion have established a formal government (called the "New Republic" as a continuation of the Old Republic Palpatine ended in his Sith plot), pushed back the Imperials from many star systems, and reached a slight military superiority to the heavily-armed Imperial forces.

All of this success is threatened by a brilliant military commander, and last of the Imperial Grand Admirals, named Thrawn. For his own reasons, which are inscrutable (he seems to have no respect for the late Emperor and his "New Order") to all but himself, he believes the Empire must rise again and the "Rebellion" - he steadfastly refuses to call it the New Republic - must be destroyed. To this end, he has found an insane clone of an Old Republic era Jedi Master, Joruus C'baoth, and is using him to perform carefully-planned attacks to drive the Republic to it's knees.

What's more, he has agreed to the madman clone's price for his help: Leia Organa Solo and her and Han's twin children she is pregnant with, to be kidnapped and handed over to C'baoth.

So began the resurgence in the now truly massive Star Wars franchise. The plot is interesting, but what made this work truly compelling are the characters. Along with the favorites from the movies (such as Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Lando, so on), you have new characters to enjoy. You find yourself both cheering for and against the bad guys, for instance. This is because, though Thrawn is more polished and refined than the Emperor and Vader, is a genius to boot, and has some good motives for some of his actions, there is little doubt that he is still evil. After all, he is fine with killing incompetent subordinates, kidnapping innocents and handing them over to a homicidal maniac, among other lovely things. There is also no doubt that, though insane, C'baoth is the every bit the clone of his template, one of the more powerful pre-Empire Jedi. All in all, this is quite a challenge for the heroes.

Part of the difficulty for the good guys is that Thrawn is careful and smart. He analyzes his enemies, unlike the Emperor and Vader he will retreat from a fight he can't win, and he plans his strategies so that, even when he does lose, he still either gets something, hurts the Republic, or both.

One area that Zahn deserves both praise and some slight critique (but mostly praise) is in the area of how "hard" his SW books are. In science-fiction circles, there is a scale of "hardness" and "softness" in regards to the genre. For instance, how much does the story adhere to scientific fact (hard), or just use science jargon or vague ideas to give a template or justification for story elements (soft). Zahn was limited in how much "hardness" he could put in the Star Wars books due to the fantastical nature of the series. He still tried. Sometimes this could pull you out of the fantastical elements due to the explanations, which obviously was not a good thing. All in all, this is a tiny criticism, because his keeping the characters grounded made the story more compelling and believable than the truly ridiculous paths many other authors have taken stories down since then. While he is a bit long on explanations and science at times, his grounded approach really has been shown to be for the best.

This novel also introduced three characters that would go on to influence future books, and be wildly popular with fans, despite not appearing in any of the films. Said characters are Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, and Imperial Captain Gilad Pellaeon. It's a testament to the story-telling and world-building skills of Tim Zahn that he was able to create characters that consistently are fan-favorites, even sometimes over movie characters.

Of course, this edition of Heir being annotated offers added goodies. As I already stated, there are numerous notes from Zahn and Mitchell about the process of writing the trilogy. These tidbits open a window to the reader about how the tales developed, including what ideas were accepted, rejected, or fine-tuned by the folks at Lucasfilm. To get into the heads of Zahn and Mitchell in some ways helped to almost complete the book, as some questions fans have had about Heir and the rest of The Thrawn Trilogy are answered in the notes.

For the Star Wars fan, and really science-fiction fans in general, this is a must-read.

Timothy Zahn single handedly made the EU. This is THE definitive expanded universe trilogy. Set just 5 years after the end of Return of the Jedi, this trilogy sees the return of our favorite band of heroes now trying to implement their government while wiping away the remains of the empire. As the story progresses we meet new characters who instantly become classics, as well as the iconic Admiral Thrawn. Buy these, and get ready to spend the rest of the day reading about that galaxy far, far away.